Heat In The Midst Of Coldness

I was reading over an email from Jake Turnbow who is a missionary to Estonia. It's very exciting to hear what's going on over there. He's been on the field for 11yr. now, and has been persevering through the many obstacles that come up. One of the things he still is trying to work on is learning the language. In Estonia, they speak both Estonian and Russian; can you imagine living in a country where one language is as dominant as the other? There are also two main religions, Lutheran and Russian Orthodoxy.

Though the people are very cold to the Gospel, Jake has some great ministry opportunities throughout the week. There's Bible studies, playing basketball with teens, and teaching English in the schools. The basketball games are a great outreach, from personal experience there's nothing like getting down to earth with people, and in return them opening up to you. The way they're doing the English classes is fantastic; they're using the Bible as their text, and people are actually responding to their advertisements. A new door has opened up for them to go to a children's home weekly for the sole purpose of ministering to the children.

People may be rejecting God's Word, but there are still some who are curious and ask questions. The Holy Spirit is powerful, and no one can reject it's moving in their life. Praise God for those who are seeing the error of their ways, and turning to Christ for salvation. Estonia is a country without God, and Jake is there boldly proclaiming the Gospel. Take time to pray for him and his wife Donna that they would be steadfast in their work, and that fruit would be seen in their ministries.

If you'd like to get in touch with the Turnbows you can email me at atcministries@gmail.com.

My Vision

So often, we're caught up in our own little world. We have a house, a good job, an established church, and we live in the greatest country in the world (America). We tend to forget that the world is so much bigger, and that the majority of it is far different than what most of us have grown up in. I had the opportunity to live in Caracas, Venezuela for three years. I saw and experienced things that you would never see, even among the poorest here.

God has gifted me with that experience that now leaves me with an understanding, a heart, for those countries that don't have what we have, that are persecuted for their faith, or don't even have one because they have never have heard the Gospel.

My vision is to one day, through my ministry, reach out to those people, and just as Christ showed me grace and love, show them the same in return. There's a call that has been given, a high calling from Christ to "go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel", "let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven", "love thy neighbor as thyself", "remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body."

May we purpose to fervently and with a passion answer the call. It is our responsibility, duty, privilege, and honor.

May God be glorified,
Andrew Randaazo